Queen Elizabeth I: The Most Influential Ruler

Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most influential rulers or history not only because she was a strong, independent woman, but because she ruled despite all the struggles and she proved everyone wrong.
One reason that Queen Elizabeth I is considered influential is because from birth she was faced with struggle. When Elizabeth was born into the Tudor family on September 7th, 1553, her parents thought she was a disappointment. “The son she had hoped so confidently to bear the man child, who would save England from a threatened civil war, this child had somehow withdrawn among the shadows and in his place there emerged this little girl Elizabeth.” Her parents, King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn wanted a son who could take the throne and rule England but to their dismay they got a daughter. Growing up Elizabeth had to deal with not having a female role model in her life.
From the age of thirteen, Elizabeth knew she didn’t want to marry. She thought that if a princess is wed she would die or be cast off. She watched what happened to her mothers and didn’t want the same to happen to her. Elizabeth had no example of true love in her life. Her father never really loved his wives and to him marriage was only temporary. She didn’t want to rule the way her mothers did, she wanted to be independent. Elizabeth did fall in love a couple times, but she rejected every proposal she received. The House of Commons, the lower level of Parliament, wanted to find her a suitable husband, but she refused. She didn’t believe that she needed a husband to help her rule, she could do it alone. They wanted her to marry and start a family. Elizabeth said, “In the end, this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time lived and died a virgin.” Elizabeth stayed true to her word a remained a virgin her whole life. That is why she is considered the Virgin